Dry Tortugas National Park

Last updated: July 5, 2022

As part of my recent trip to the Florida Keys, I made sure to incorporate a trip to Dry Tortugus National Park as this trip doesn’t just casually happen and requires a lot of planning. It was truly the sole purpose of going on the trip… the Keys were just a bonus and Monkey Jungle. 😊

Dry Tortugus is one America’s top 10 least visited national parks, with only 48,573 visitors in 2020. This is due to its remote nature. Located almost 70 miles west of Key West sits a 64,000 acre island with a fort on it named Dry Tortugus National Park, accessible only by boats and sea planes. We took the Yankee Freedom Ferry which offered refreshments and included a knowledgeable tour of the island. The cost was $190 per adult and the boat trip was 2.5 hours one way.

So where did the name “Dry Tortugus” come from? The Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon first discovered this island chain in 1513 and called them Las Tortugas, meaning The Turtles, for the great number of sea turtles found there. The latter name, Dry Tortugas, was intended to warn seafarers that the islands contain no fresh water.

Fort Jefferson

On Garden Key, the largest island in the group, you’ll find historic Ft. Jefferson – once envisioned as the largest link in America’s coastal defense system. Its original purpose was to control navigation into the vast Gulf of Mexico and protect the Atlantic-bound Mississippi River trade from piracy. Begun In 1846, it used 16 million bricks – making it the largest masonry structure in the Western Hemisphere – although it was never actually finished. You can go inside the fort to explore and even make your way to the top.

Beaches and Snorkeling

The beaches surrounding Dry Tortugas are such a nice way to spend the day. I saw my first hermit crab and quickly became obsessed with him. It took me a minute, but I finally coaxed him from hiding in his shell.

The Dry Tortugas is home to some of the most vibrant coral reefs in the United States, and is a snorkeler’s wonderland. The reef stretches from the Dry Tortugas in the Gulf of Mexico all the way to Miami in the Atlantic Ocean. This amazing structure is made up of layers of calcium carbonate secreted by coral polyps throughout thousands of years and is the home of hundreds of tropical fish and marine life. The corals receive their vibrant colors from polyps containing algae called zooxanthellae, which also helps to keep the corals alive.The shallow waters (5-15 feet) is a snorkels wonderland with the abundance of colorful tropical fish and living coral among the waters. Directly accessible from the brilliant white sand beach are the Fort Jefferson snorkeling areas. Look for majestic corals, many varieties of tropical fish, starfish, queen conchs, and much more in this protected marine sanctuary. Complimentary fins, mask and snorkel were provided to us as part of our ferry cost.

Fort Jefferson as a Prison

Fort Jefferson was also used as a prison for criminals and deserters during and after the Civil War. The most famous of these prisoners was Dr. Samuel Mudd, who was imprisoned for his involvement in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

After Booth shot Lincoln on the night of April 14, 1865, he broke his left fibula when he jumped from the presidential box while fleeing Ford’s Theater. Booth stopped at Mudd’s house around 4 AM on April 15. Mudd splinted Booth’s leg and gave him a shoe to wear. He also arranged for a carpenter, John Best, to make a pair of crutches for Booth. Booth paid Mudd $25 for his services. He spent between twelve and fifteen hours at Mudd’s house. He slept in the front bedroom on the second floor. It is unclear whether Mudd had yet been informed that Booth had killed Lincoln.

Mudd went to Bryantown during the day on April 15 to run errands and if he had not already heard the news of the assassination from Booth, he certainly learned of it on the trip. He returned home that evening, and its unclear whether Booth had already left when he got there.

It is certain that Mudd did not immediately contact the authorities. When questioned, he stated that he had not wanted to leave his family alone in the house in case the assassin returned and found him absent and his family unprotected. He waited until Mass the following day, Easter Sunday, when he asked his second cousin, Dr. George Mudd, a resident of Bryantown, to notify the 13th New York Cavalry in Bryantown. Mudd’s delay in contacting the authorities drew suspicion and was a significant factor in tying him to the conspiracy.

On June 29, Mudd was found guilty along with others for conspiring with Booth to have Lincoln murdered. Mudd escaped the death penalty by one vote and was sentenced to life imprisonment at Fort Jefferson. The others were hanged on July 7.

On September 25, 1865, Mudd attempted to escape from Fort Jefferson by stowing away on the transport Thomas A. Scott. He was quickly discovered and placed in a large empty ground-level gunroom that soldiers referred to as “the dungeon”. The men were let out of the dungeon every working day for 12 hours and were required to wear leg irons. However, following a December 22 letter from his wife to President Johnson, the War Department ordered the discontinuance of the shackles and the move to better quarters, which was accomplished by January.

After three months in the dungeon, Mudd were returned to the general prison population. However, because of his attempted escape, Mudd lost his privilege of working in the prison hospital and was assigned to work in the prison carpentry shop.

There was an outbreak of yellow fever in the fall of 1867 at the fort. The prison doctor died, and Mudd agreed to take over the position. He was able to help stem the spread of the disease. The soldiers in the fort wrote a petition to Johnson in October 1867 stating the degree of Mudd’s assistance: “He inspired the hopeless with courage and by his constant presence in the midst of danger and infection. Many doubtless owe their lives to the care and treatment they received at his hands.” Probably as a reward for his work in the yellow fever epidemic, Mudd was reassigned from the carpentry shop to a clerical job in the Provost Marshal’s office, where he remained until his pardon by President Johnson on February 8, 1869. He was released from prison on March 8, 1869, and returned to his home in Maryland on March 20, 1869

During its time, Fort Jefferson held over 2,500 prisoners. After its use as a prison, Fort Jefferson became a quarantine station for the Marine-Hospital Service from 1888-1900, during which the location was also used in the Spanish-American War.

With its rich historical background, Fort Jefferson finally received its designation as a National Monument in 1935, and then upgraded to National Park status by President George Bush in 1992. Check out this brochure to take your own tour of Fort Jefferson right from where you are!

This is a really cool day trip AND you can even plan to camp there. I’d like to go back again and camp overnight, but the day trip satisfied me for now.

At this point, I almost believe that a trip to the Florida Keys is wasted without planning a trip to Dry Tortugus. There’s so many things on my bucket list for Florida and I’m chipping away at them trip by trip.

So what are you waiting for? Go visit and tell me all about it. 😊😊